St. Stephens
Kinley |nextto= Kinley (downtown) |nicknames= |language=English |saint=St. Stephen |hexacode=SE-KY-SS }} St. Stephens is a neighborhood of Kinley, located to the north-east of the center. It contains Seven's oldest surviving building, St. Stephen's Church. The region has a low population density and was only recently incorporated as an urban area, being transferred from the district of Greater Kinley. It has gone through a process of modernization in recent years, receiving a large amount of investment from the state government. Etymology The neighborhood takes its name from the oldest building, St. Stephen's Church. The reason for the lack of an apostrophe, which would normally be seen as incorrect in English, is not fully clear. While it is true that many settlement names have similar forms, e.g. St. Peters and St Andrews, it's likely that those names were created before the use of a posssesive apostrophe was standardized, which of course would not be true for St Stephens, whose name was first made official in 1942. Nevertheless, there may have been a precedent in Seven for spelling the name in this way, or the town leaders of the region may simply have been aiming for consistency with other placenames named after saints. History Seven's first inhabitants were Scandinavian immigrants who built a Lutheran church in the region in 1878. It remained in use until 1906, when it was abandoned, due to a dwindling number of Scandinavians and migration away from the nearby farms to Kinley and the south of Lovia. After around 15 years of disuse, it had become almost ruined; part of the roof had caved in and doors were removed by locals for use as firewood, and the state government began a debate over whether to demolish the remains. However, the Roman Catholic community in Kinley had been growing significantly and in 1922 Ronald Thumbsup, then priest of the Church of the Sacred Heart, submitted an offer to the government to purchase the church, which succeeded, and reconstruction began the next year. By late 1923, the first priest, Martin Anderson, was installed, and the church was renamed St. Stephen's Church. As the largely rural Catholic population were able to go to mass locally rather than travelling to Kinley, the church enabled a semi-independent community to grow east of Kinley. In 1925 a market was established nearby and funds from the government enabled the Old Street, which had also fallen into disrepair, to be widened and improved. The thirties, with Governor Henri Burton's emphasis on agriculture, gave a further boost to the settlement. Nevertheless, due to the scattered pattern of settlement, the region could not have been described as a 'village' or 'town.' In 1942, the inhabitants petitioned the state government for the region to become an official government district. This was the first time that the area became officially known as St Stephens, as the district was given the same name as the parish. The district suffered badly in the 1956 famine, and population decreased so much the district was combined into the Greater Kinley district in 1958. It remained one of the poorest areas in the country until the late nineties, when the state once more invested into a program of regeneration for the region. A new urban area was created, where companies were encouraged to come, partly because land prices were much cheaper than in downtown Kinley. Kinley's main shopping mall, the Colosseum was constructed in 2002, and new residential areas were created, in particular the Cape Donald Apartments and Van Duin Apartments. The region officially split from the Greater Kinley district in 2012 and became a new neighborhood of Kinley, after permission was granted from Governor Breyev. It remains a popular area, with a combination of modern urban living in a rural and historical setting. Town map * *1 - Old Street * *2 - Lincoln Street References Category:Seven